Improvement in hand-burnishers for boots and shoes



UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN Gr. ROSS, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,491, dated June 27, 1871.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. Ross, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and in the l State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand-Burnishers for the Heels of Boots and Shoes 5 and do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my' said improvement, by which my invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to secure i by Letters Patent.

The objects of my invention are, first, the production of a burnisher which will do its work better and quicker than the ordinary burnisher,

` by reason of a better burnishing surface; and,

second, to have the burnishing surface detachable, so that it can be renewed when it is worn out by use.

The burnishing of leather is accomplished by compressing it to a greater density, and at the same time rubbing the compressed part with a polished piece of metal or other hard substance.-

It is well known that (the power applied being equal) the compression of a substance is in- Versely as the surface pressed. A force of one hundred pounds, for example, when acting upon a surface of two square inches, will not penetrate into a substance as far as when it is acting only on one square inch of the same substance.

1t will now be readily understood that to make a perfect burnisher it is necessary that it should act upon .the leather with small rounded surfaces-small, for the purpose of sinking freely into the leather, as required, and rounded, so as not 'to cut when passing over it. By experiments I have found the periphery of a rod from about one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch diameter to present such a surface; but the objections to the use of such a rod as a burnisher are, first, that it would sink into the leather with less power than a mans hand is capable of exerting; second, that it would not be compact and strong enough for the purpose; and, third, that it would be inconvenient to use. The objections are overcome by first increasing the number of rods until vsufficient surface for a mans hand-power is obtained; second, by attaching the rod to a rm a plate, retaining all the essential features of the said surfaces of rods, as shown in Fig. l, by the corrugations l, 2, 3, 85o.; and, third, by providing the whole with a suitable handle. Another, and the most important advantage'of having a number of small surfaces acting upon the leather, in`

stead of one large surface, is, that in burnishin g rough irregular surfaces the large-surfaced burnisher will rest on two 'adjacent prominences, leaving the surface between unpolished; whereas, the burnisher with the narrow faces will enter between the prolninences and polish the whole surface alike.

My improved burnisher isshown in Figure 1, one half of which represents a longitudinal section, and the other half an outside view. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section of the burnisher (handle removed) through the line A B, Fig. l.

My improved burnisher consists of three essential parts: the piece a, on which the burnishing-surt'ace is formed; the support b, `and the handle c. The corrugations l, 2, 3, Ste., may be considered arcs of the circumferences of cylindrical rods, as before explained, the pitch ofthe corrugations being about one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch, which l found to give the best results. The plate a, on which the corrugation's l, 2, 3, 87o., are formed, is fastened, by screws dd, or other well-known means, to the support b, so that after the corrugations are worn out a new plate may be readily attached to b. The handlec is attached to b, similar to those of iiles, knives and forks,

Sto. From Fig. 2 it will be seen that the burnishing-surface is curved also at right angles to the curvature of the corrugations, as from la to l, in order to still more readily touch the depressions of uneven leather, and thus produce a uniform polishedsurface.

I do not claim as my invention anything that is not contained in the following claim:

I claim- A hand-burnisher, consisting of the handle c, shank b with its projection D, and corrugated detachable cap a, all constructed and operating together as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of August, 1870. Witnesses: JOHN Gr. ROSS.

UnAs. E. PANooAsT, THOMAS L. MILLER.

support, or' by forming the polishing-surface on 

